This past Sunday morning, I woke
up to the following two tweets right next to one another in my feed:
The first relates directly to the
prior day’s attack in London:
@rcallimachi
10. Chilling testimony from
eyewitness who says he saw assailants stabbing a girl, while screaming, “This
is for Allah.”
And this followed:
@brianzahnd
Violence breeds violence.
Only forgiveness offers an
alternative.
I know must don’t believe this
but…
It is what Jesus lived and
taught.
And it is what God has vindicated
in…
Resurrection
**********
The degree and nature of the dialogue
between the content of these two tweets is, I think, of the utmost importance. In an age where our world’s imagination for
destruction and ever more deadly weapons seems to shape our vision of the
future, I don’t think it an exaggeration to say that it determines our future.
How do we hear this 2nd
tweet?
- As irrelevant religious blather? Or as pointing towards the most relevant speech of all?
- As fundamentally mistaken and flat-out theologically wrong? Or as the truth at the heart of reality?
- As cowardly, destructive, and leading inexorably to the deaths of the innocent? Or as the courageous means to new life?
- As weak? Or as strong?
- As luxury? Or as necessity?
- As perpetuating the cycle of violence? Or as breaking the cycle of violence?
- As hopelessly naïve, the result of privilege and distance from the death and suffering? Or as sober and costly solidarity with the death and suffering in the world?
- As indifference and “doing nothing”? Or as the means whereby an active and potent moral imagination is ignited?
- Which one "takes terrorism seriously"?
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